st. james infirmary. cab calloway and fleischer

I'm too tired to be coherent, so I will just post this clip from an old Fleischer Brothers cartoon. Max and Dave Fleischer were early rivals of Walt Disney, creating intricate, surreal and ghoulish cartoons that were -and in my opinion still are- far better than anything Walt churned out. Funny and uniquely dark, Fleischer cartoons were popular in the early 1930's, at times, more so than even Disney's flag ship mouse. Sadly during the mid 1930's the Fleischers struggled with increased censorship and a new Production Code forcing them to tone down their cartoons and as a result stifling the obscure and risque style that had made them so popular. With the exception of Popeye, Fleischer cartoons have seen little popularity since the late 1930's, which is a shame because nothing since has come close to the gothic grandeur of these early classics.